New Kids on the Block
by HoolianAuror
Summary: Seth Curzeiro his twin brother, João, and their sisters, just moved to Britain with their stepfather and will be start Hogwarts as Third Years. These siblings have more than a few secrets. An encounter with Albus Potter puts the Weasley clan way too close to one of their biggest secrets. If that wasn't enough another has stalked them from the edge of the Amazon to Hogwarts castle.
1. Business as Usual

"Pega ele, si perdemos ele de novo o Doniha vai matar nos.*"

"Yeah, but, at least he can't do anything till we get back home or his family will find out."

Albus Potter turned around just in time to see two boys with straw blonde hair barreling towards him and barely managed to jump out of their way.

"Oi! Watch where you're going you gits!" he shouted at their retreating backs.

One turned on his heel while the other continued on without so much as a backward glance. The first boy was just opening his mouth when Albus felt a hand connect with the back of his head. The other boy's apology was drowned out by Ginny Potter's shriek of "Albus Severus!".

Albus turned to see his mother's face flaming that famous Weasley red with indignation at his behavior. "You apologize right now or your father will hear about this young man! I cannot believe that you would say something so rude to these nice young men. These are the boys who helped you catch that horrid weasel of yours earlier. Now apologize!"

"Sorry…" mumbled Albus.

"It's fine," The boy said. "I'm sorry that we almost flattened you."

"Oh it's alright dear." Ginny answered for her son. "Though, you really ought to watch where you're going."

"Yes ma'am I'm sorry. But my brother and I Iost our owl again and if we didn't catch him our dad would kill us." He said just as his brother walked up with said owl secured in a cage. Albus was struck by how similar the two boys were, so much so that he would have thought that he was seeing double from his mother's cuff if one had not been holding on to the cage.

"Oh I can certainly relate my son, James, is always letting his owl get away, though I'm not quite sure that he does it on accident." Ginny said conspiratorially. "Oh, where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself..."

"You're Ginny Potter, wife of Harry potter, and this is your middle child Albus." the boy cut in with a knowing grin "You are quite famous after all."

"Oh I suppose so." She sputtered back "And you are?"

"Excuse me, I am Seth Cruzeiro and this is my brother João."

"Well, then, where is this father of yours? I would like to meet him and compare notes on trying to keep pets like yours where they are supposed to be." Ginny said cheerfully.

"I'm sure he would love that but, he had to take our sisters home to get their new cats settled in before we have to leave for school." Joao answered.

"In that case, Messrs. Cruzeiro, would you like to come to lunch with us? We are meeting my husband and other children, and my brother Ron's family." Ginny said warmly.

"Thank you that will be lovely." Seth answered gratefully.

" Well then follow us."

The foursome walked into the Leaky Cauldron to find it in complete chaos with hexes, dungbombs and other WWW products being slung over the upended pub tables the combatants were using as shields. Several stools and extra tables had been pushed up against the walls to create barricades behind which the few people not participating in the battle had found refuge. Two girls with flaming Weasley hair leaped from behind one such barrier and pulled Ginny back with them as the three boys were forced to dive behind a table on the other side of the entrance in order to dodge a stray jinx.

"What on earth is happening here?" Ginny had to yell to be heard over the din coming from the row.

"Not sure mom." the younger girl yelled back. "Uncle George showed up and made some wise crack about not getting an invite and then something went bang and everything went wonky."

"Of course George started it!" Ginny said exasperatedly. "Oh and Rose where is your mother?"

"Um well, about three seconds in, either Dad or Uncle Harry missed somebody and hit her with a full body bind curse, so Aunt Hannah grabbed her and took her upstairs."

"Well then I suppose, we might as well wait for Hannah to sort her, then the three of us can get handle on our husbands. That ought to fix that." Ginny said reservedly. Just then a shout rang out

"Oi, Al!"

All three boys stuck their heads out from behind their table shield just in time to receive the full force of a dungbomb in their faces. That snapped Ginny's resolve to wait for the other women.

"James! Harry! Ronald! George! Can none of you be trusted to wait for five minute without adult supervision? I swear if you don't clean this place up in the next five seconds I'll...I'll hex you so badly you will all be coughing slugs for the next two weeks!"

The din died as the fighters shrunk from Ginny's rage, each and every one of them knew she would follow through on the threat. Especially since just as it had left her lips, a very unhappy Hermione Weasley and Hannah Longbottom had appeared on the stairs. Under the collective death stares of three of the most powerful witches in the world, the combatants crawled out from behind their shields. Harry and James came out from behind one table, Bill, Louis, and Ron from another, and George and Fred from another. As soon as they had cleared the floor, Hermione and Ginny set in on their husbands, brothers and nephews. While the rest of the men were getting yelled at Neville and Hugo emerged from behind the bar.

"See Hugo, I told you we wouldn't get balled out if we stayed back there."

"Check your facts Professor." Hannah said from behind her husband and started to scream on a level to rival the other two women.

Fleur and Angelina walked in on the scene and with knowing looks fell in on their husbands and sons while their daughters stood beside the giggling Lily and Rose to laugh at their brothers and fathers' misfortune.

After about an hour the women finally exhausted themselves and allowed the children to go clean up while the men put the room back in order. Once all the tables had been replaced, and all underage participants in the battle properly grounded, they were set with a spread worthy of any Weasley family gathering.

"Ok everyone," said Harry over the mounting noise of his overly large family. "guests first, then everyone who isn't in trouble."

"So business as usual huh dad?" James said cheekily, earning himself a sharp smack to the back of his head from Ginny.


	2. Introductions

"So Seth, João what year will you be starting.?" Hermione inquired politely.

"Third ma'am" Seth responded.

"Oh really João? That's the same year as Al and Rose" She said in suprise.

"Really, that's cool, oh and I'm Seth by the way." Seth corrected kindly.

"I'm sorry dear it's just that you're so similar I have trouble telling you apart." Hermione spluttered the apology.

"It's no problem, ma'am we've gotten used to it" João said " This usually helps though." As he said this he screwed up his face and his hair went from dark blonde to bright green.

"Yes I suppose it would." Hermione said barely keeping her jaw off the floor "It's also a piece of N.E.W.T level magic. Unless..."

"We're metamorphmagi " Seth interjected, rolling his eyes at his brother's showmanship "Excuse my brother, he likes to tell people things in the most dramatic way possible. He thinks it makes people respect him more or something."

"Then he ought to fit right in with this bunch." Hermione replied jovially "Besides Teddy will love having some other metamorphmagi help to mess with people."

"That he will." Harry confirmed "Say, I don't remember Rose or Al, mentioning any metamorphmagi in their year, what house are you in?"

"They probably didn't mention us because we just moved to Britain with our step-dad sir. We won't be sorted until the start of term." João answered

"Ah, well that explains it. Where are you from?"

"Brazil, our mother died last year, our stepfather is from Britain so, he got a job here and moved back. Also he still hasn't told his family that he got married, lost a wife, and is now the single father of four kids so, he's kinda been hiding, or we might have met some of you sooner."

"We're sorry to hear that about your mother but, we hope that you will feel at home here. Just know that if you need anything we will be perfectly happy to do whatever we can." Ginny stated softly meeting with hearty affirmation from her family.

"Thank you." Both boys answered.

"Now for the really important stuff." George cut in "Do you two play Quidditch."

"Yeah!" Came in emphatic chorus from the other Weasley men while the women, minus Ginny, just rolled their eyes.

"Oh yes sir!" Seth answered enthusiastically. "We were in training for the Junior World Cup in Brazil."

"Great! I mean assuming you are sorted into Gryffindor, because we lost most of our players this year and so I'm having to build a whole new team." James said "What positions do you two play."

"When we're on the same team we play beaters" João started.

"Separately we play chaser." Seth finished. Just then two blonde girls with beautiful caramel skin who looked as if they had been copy pasted walked in.

"O, vocês. O Doninha disse pra vocês voltar para casa. *" One said to Seth.

"Já voltamos. **" The boys answered.

"Who are these lovely young ladies?" Fleur asked mischievously.

Turning back to the family Seth answered "These are our sisters Rahab and Dilma." to his sisters he said "And these are the Weasleys, Potters, and Longbottoms."

"Oh." Fleur exclaimed looking quite dejected

"Thank you for lunch. We're sorry to leave so suddenly but we our father wants us home."

"Good day, I hope you get settled well and if you need anything just owl. Okay." Harry said.

"Yes, sir, thanks again." Seth answered as the boys gathered their things and walked out the door.

* Hey you. The Doniha said for you to come home

** We're coming

A/N O Doniha is a term which the Cruzeiro children use as a given name to refer to their stepfather.


	3. Arriving

"Al! That's my head, besides, boys are on the other side." Rose said as she unceremoniously dumped her cousin out of the compartment into the corridor.

The Weasley-Potter children and their friends managed to take up an entire carriage, with the eleven of them plus the the Longbottoms, Scarmanders, and Woods plus one Malfoy they easily warranted the space. Add to that the four cruzeros, their luggage and Professor (Uncle Neville) Longbottom and his teaching supplies and the usually homey carriage became a war zone.

Stumbling away from the chaos of the front two compartments Al moved towards the back, where the luggage and pet cages had been stacked. There, sprawled across a row of trunks was Seth with his nose in some muggle fiction book.

"Hiding from the tornado that is my family?" Al asked with a grin.

"Nah, more like avoiding the hurricane that is mine." Seth answered wincing at the shrieks of outrage that accompanied João's latest prank.

"Ah, come on they're not that bad. I mean you have met Fred right?" Al countered

"True."

"So... You nervous about the sorting?" Al asked trying to keep the conversation alive

"Not really." Seth answered awkwardly "Being Brazilian I don't really have a connection or aversion to any of the houses. The only problem is that my stepdad's entire family, almost, has been Gryffindor. So he is really pulling for us to go there. But then most of our mom's family were Slytherin. So I really don't know what to hope for."

"Oh, I suppose that would present a challenge." Al said. "Wait how does your mom have a house? I thought she was Brazilian."

"Well yes and no. She had Brazilian citizenship because she married our Dad, but she was actually born American. Her mom was British as was her paternal grandfather." Seth answered

"Ah, ok so then what house do you want?" Al asked

"Not sure, I mean Gryffindor sounds great but then, Slytherin would be a great place to do some experiments since they are generally better at potions. There are just so many stigmas for both houses and so it's hard to say. I'm leaning towards Gryffindor though, just for the fact that so many people view Slytherin as a Death Eater training ground, and with my being a registered pureblood, I sure don't need that on my back."

"Not all Slytherins are evil you know and they're also not the only ones good at potions." came a voice from the opposite corner of the compartment. Looking up the two boys saw that curled in the corner partially hidden behind a trunk was a boy with platinum blonde hair and steel gray eyes.

"True, Scorp." Answered Al. "I mean look at me, the son of Harry Potter, seeker for the Slytherin team and second best potion maker in our year, behind my cousin Rose, who is a Gryffindor."

"Not what I meant Al." The boy shot back with a withering glare.

"I know. Just messing with you." Al said flippantly. Turning to Seth he said "Seth this is Scorpius Malfoy, my best mate and fellow Slytherin. Scorp this is Seth Cruzero, new to Hogwarts straight for the backwaters of the Amazon."

"I lived in Minas, Al." Seth said looking put off. "It's all farmland and mines."

"Looks like you should check your facts before you introduce people, Al." Scorpius smirked

"I did go to school in the Amazon though." Seth offered, graciously.

Al stuck his tongue out at Scorpius just as Rose walked up with Alice Longbottom.

"Real mature Al," Rose said "Hey Scorp."

"Hey Rose." Scorpius returned with a blush.

"My dad said for you guys to get changed into your robes. We're almost there." Alice said before the girls walked away.

"Oh yeah did I forget to tell you, Seth, Scorp's got a crush on my cousin." Al said

"Yeah, I've got it all most as bad as Al has it for Alice." Scorpius replied smoothly

"What are you talking about?" Al tried to answer with the same grace but unfortunately for him he had inherited the Weasley blush.

"Uh-huh." The other two boys said knowingly.

"Oh get dressed ya prats." Al said crossly.

As the group disembarked from the train Professor Longbottom motioned the Cruzeiros over.

"The four of you will come with the first years and myself across the Lake on the boats."

Turning quickly and motioning for them to follow he walked across the platform. At the same time, he drew his wand and pointed it at his throat. Once he reached the end he turned once again and allowed his magically amplified voice to ring out across the crowd.

"First years gather around me and we will make the trip across the lake."

Once all the first years had gathered, Professor Longbottom led the group to the waiting boats on the shore, signalling the four siblings to join him in the lead vessel. As the first years marveled at the castle, the surrounding forest, and glimpses of the giant squid, he turned to the four third years in his boat.

"Okay, now is one of the few times that we will have to speak privately over the next few days." He said quietly "I just wanted to tell you that I know who about your father as does Professor Ulfvitus and the situation of non-disclosure that you are in so if any of you need anything just come to me."

"Thank you that is very kind professor." All four answered automatically.

"Also, I know that he believes that you will all end up in Gryffindor; however, you should all remember this..." He said looking each child in the face to ensure he had their attention"...The Sorting hat often knows us better than we ourselves do. And so it may place you based on talents and traits that you, or anyone else, have yet to realize you possess. But, that is the beauty of it, some of our most powerful traits are not the ones by which we define ourselves by but, the ones we have no idea lay within us."


	4. The Sorting

Once the boats reached the shore and all the students stood once again on solid ground, Professor Longbottom led the group up to the castle doors, through the entrance hall into an antechamber. Once all the students had filed into the room he turned to face the throng of nervous faces.

"Hello first years, my name is Professor Longbottom, Deputy Headmaster and Head of Gryffindor House." He said in the most business like tone he could muster,which had Lily,Hugo, and Louis trying their hardest not to burst out in full on guffaws. Shooting them a look he continued "In a few moments I will queue you by last name, then you will be called into the great hall. From there you will each be called up and sorted into one of the four houses. These houses will serve as your families for your stay at hogwarts, you will care for and support each other." Here he paused for a second to ensure the weight of this statement was fully understood."Additionally you may earn or lose house points based on your actions during the course of the term. The house which ends the year with the most house points will win the house cup." again he paused waiting for the whoops from those with wizard parents to die down."One last thing, we have four new students who will be entering third year as they have just moved to Britain and they will be sorted last." Turning so as to address the four siblings who were clustered off to the side "If you four would be so kind as to queue by first name behind the last of the First years."

With that he proceeded to place the first years in alphabetical order then disappeared into the great hall to ensure that all preparations had been made for the sorting. After a few moments he returned and led the group out to line up against the far wall of the cruzeros found themselves directly behind Hugo and Louis.

"You guys nervous?" Hugo said around Louis and Molly

"A little. But not not too bad." Dilma answered cheerfully "You guys?"

"Nah. Well a little." Hugo conceded "But not as nervous as Lily."

Just as he said this the Sorting hat finished its song and the first name was called.

"Anderson, Amelia Judith." shortly followed by a shout of "Ravenclaw!" from the hat.

This went on for a few more names before "Potter, Lily Luna." was called as she walked on to the platform she looked ready to hurl. She took a seat and began to have what appeared to be a heated argument with the hat. After several minutes it finally yelled out "Gryffindor!" and Lily took her seat at the Gryffindor table between Rose and James to the applause of her family and new housemates.

The queue shrank as each child had his or her name called and mounted the stage to have the hat shout the name of a house. Each table found itself fuller as time wore on; however, surprisingly the Slytherin table seemed to be gaining the most new students. Finally the only students remaining to be sorted were the three Weasley cousins and the Cruzeiro siblings.

"Weasley, Hugo Arthur." was called and despite his early bravado Hugo seemed nearly as sick a Lily had earlier. After a few minutes the hat screamed "Ravenclaw!"

The entire hall was silent at first in shock that now a second child of the "Golden Trio", the most famous of Gryffindor heroes, had been sorted out of their parents' house. The clapping started slowly with his sister at the Gryffindor table and his cousins at the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables as he sat down with his new house.

"Weasley, Louis William." was called next and the hat shouted "Ravenclaw!" almost before it touched his head.

"Weasley, Molly Andromeda." was called to the stage and the hat declared "Ravenclaw!".

The hall was once again in shock, not one but, three Weasleys had been sorted out of Gryffindor. The next declaration from the Headmaster Ulfvitus did nothing to ease that shock.

"This year we will sort four third year students into their houses. These four have only just moved to Britain and as such may need assistance in adjusting to our systems and making acquaintances. So I would ask each of you, especially their housemates to offer aide in these areas and any others which they may require it." Turning to Professor Longbottom he said

"If you please let this sorting begin." before retaking his seat.

"Cruzeiro, Dilma Annie" took the stage first and received a decision of "Hufflepuff!" after what seemed to be a few minutes of pleasant conversation with the hat and descended taking her seat to thunderous applause

"Cruzeiro, João Paul." was called next and after quite a while was told "Slytherin!" and took his seat next to Al and Scorpius.

"Cruzeiro, Rahab Rowena." ascended the steps next and, after a few minutes of cool conversation with the hat, received a verdict of "Ravenclaw!" after which she took her seat among the Weasleys gathered there.

"Cruzeiro, Seth Salazar." was called last and after a very long time was announced as a "Gryffindor!" and came down to be engulfed in a sea of red hair sitting among the Weasleys and their friends.

"You'll be bunking with us!" Lorcan Scarmander said over Rose's head indicating himself, his brother Lysander, Alastair Longbottom, and Scott Wood.

Once the noise had died down the Headmaster stood once again to address the crowded hall.

"Firstly, I wish to welcome of you and hope that you shall have a pleasant and fulfilling year. Secondly, anyone wishing to try for their house team should contact their team captain by this friday. Lastly, I would like to welcome our newest professors. Wood has accepted the post of Quidditch Instructor and Weasley has accepted the post of Care of Magical Creatures." As their names were said both professors stood to acknowledge the students.

"With all that said, Let's Eat!"

At this, each plate was instantly filled with an array of delicious food. As the students dug in several of the Weasley-Potter children voiced their outrage at not being told that their uncle had taken a post at Hogwarts.

"Seriously, he couldn't even tell us he was back in the country?!" James burst out between bites.

"Yes because he is required to inform us every time he moves." Rose said rolling her eyes

"No, but Rose, come on he was coming to teach, US." Dominique said exasperatedly.

"Maybe, he just wanted to surprise you all." Seth offered.

"Plus Scott and Neil never told us their dad was going to teach." Lily added smugly.

"True..." Fred said looking sideways at the two Wood boys sitting next to him. With that the group descended on them, while Lily looked pleased with herself for saving her favorite uncle and Seth looked at her in fearful admiration at how easily she had turned the conversation.

Once everyone had finished their dinner the Headmaster stood once again to address the crowd. "Now, you all have a full day of classes tomorrow so if you would please proceed to your dorms. Prefects gather the first years and escort them to their dorms."

Lorcan motioned for Seth to follow their group. "The prefects will take the first years the long way and most people will have to wait for them but, we have James and he told us the password." He said conspiratorially

"So, we ought to have the Tower to ourselves for about fifteen minutes." Roxanne added

"Enough time for a good prank to get set up." Commented Fred.

"No. You are not getting us into detention our first day back!" Rose said. rounding on her cousins

"Well, we could at least prank James, Rosie" Fred tried

"No, you can, I will be in my room, not getting killed. Thank you!" insisted Rose.

"Killjoy." Fred said pouting.

"Baby." Rose shot back.

"What crazy plan have you concocted this time" The Fat Lady cut in from her portrait.

"Nothing...Whatever would make say a thing like that." Roxanne said in her best innocent voice

"Mmhm." The painting responded incredulously "Password please."

"Gillyweed." Alice offered from the back of the group.

"Quite, right ." The Fat Lady said as she swung open.

As the group filed in the girls split to their side and the boys to theirs in order to get settled in and in Fred and Roxanne's case to prepare for their first detention.

Just as Seth and the other boys in the third year dorm drifted off, they heard a splash followed by a shout of, "Fred! Roxie! You are so dead!"


	5. Surprise!

The third year Gryffindor boys filed out of their dorm and went down to the common room with James and Fred to wait for the girls to go down to breakfast. Lily appeared first followed by several minutes later by the older girls.

"Finally!" James exclaimed. "The copper-haired princesses deign to join us."

"Shut it, you overgrown baby!" Dom shot back. "You know looking perfect for the first day is a must!"

"Yeah." Fred grumbled. "So is eating."

"Then why are we standing here arguing?" Dom said triumphantly.

Fred and James just shot her angry glares as she bounced past them through the portrait hole. They trooped down to the Entrance hall meeting up with the Ravenclaw Weasleys and Rahab on the stairs.

"Hey, guys!" Albus shouted as he, Scorpius and João walked across the entrance hall towards the larger group. While Al and Scorp joined Lorcan and Lysander's debate with Scott and Alastair over the existence of Nargles, Joao fell in beside his brother and sister.

"How many new 'boyfriends' do you think Dilma has by now?" he asked facetiously.

"Como que eu vou saber?"[How would I know] Rahab said, rolling her eyes. "Essa menina." [That girl!]

"Fifteen now, twenty by the end of breakfast. I swear that girl is part Veela." Seth answered. "Rahab you know you're going to have to start speaking English."

"Oh, shut up, Seth." Rahab said defensively. "We both know I can speak English perfectly well."

"Eu sei, mais qual graça tem ser prático?" Seth answered impishly. [I know, but what fun is being practical.]

"You're one to talk about fun and practicality...Oomph." Rahab's response was cut off as she ran into the back of the group which had suddenly stopped in the doorway to the Great Hall.

"Oh, please no." Rose breathed out from the middle of the group looking straight ahead at the staff table. At first the three couldn't tell what was so horrible that it would stop everyone in the group dead in their tracks. Then they realized that sitting there were Ron and Hermione Weasley, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy. Once they had gotten over the shock, the kids dispersed to their house tables keeping their heads down as best they could. However, as soon as they sat down they were bombarded with questions of.

"Is that your dad?"

"Do you think your mom would sign my book?" and the like.

After several minutes the Headmaster quieted the hall in order to deliver his message. "As many of you have no doubt noticed, we have several new faces among our staff this morning." Here he paused to allow the murmurs of excitement to die down, "This comes due to four of our professors finding themselves called away for various personal reasons. Consequently, Mr. and , , and have agreed to fill the positions left open by these departures. Additionally, as the head of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin house were among these professors , , and have agreed to take these positions respectively. I realize that many of you will wish to ask these teachers many questions, what with their celebrity status and all, but, I would ask you to restrain from such for the time being until we have all settled in to the routine of things."

Rose snorted at this last part. While Fred and James had to bite down on their spoons not to scream "Yeah right." at their headmaster.

After the hall had quieted somewhat, the heads of house descended from the staff table to distribute schedules.

"Uh-oh" Dom muttered. "Looks like we get double the fun."

The entire group looked up and saw what she meant. Neville and Harry were both coming towards the Gryffindor table and judging by the size of the schedule stacks each one carried they were in for a heart to heart with the Deputy Headmaster. Sure enough as soon as he reached them Neville motioned to the group. "You. Meet me in the entrance hall." With that he moved off to summon the rest of Weasley-Potter group from the other tables.

Once everyone had gathered in the Entrance hall Neville led them up to his office. He motioned for them to fan out around the room and sat himself behind his desk.

"Now I know that many of you have had a shock this morning, what with your parents showing up as professors here without advance warning." He paused looking around sympathetically. "However, I would ask that you cut them a little slack as this has all happened quite suddenly. Professor Ulfvitus and myself had to choose replacements for some of the most important subjects taught here in a matter of hours. So we chose the people we knew we could trust to carry these classes on such short notice."

"We understand Uncle Neville," Rose replied. "What we can't quite grasp is why they didn't see fit to tell us in some form or fashion before the entire school found out."

"Yes, I can see how that would seem insensitive." Neville said softly. "But, you must consider that they have only just gotten here five hours ago and have been getting ready to teach seven different classes. Which is why I have called the rest of you up here. My children, Lorcan and Lysander, and the Wood boys have experience dealing with the quirks of having a parent on staff and I would ask them to aide you in navigating the intricacies of this awkward situation." This statement elicited nods of affirmation and pledges of support from these children

"Thats all well and good, Sir but, why are we here." Joao asked motioning to include his siblings.

"Ah, that does seem rather incongruous does it not Mr. Cruzeiro?" Neville replied. "I wished to inform you that your father has spoken with the headmaster and myself concerning your um... particular situation and should any of you feel the need to speak with someone I will be most happy to do so. Also Professor Ulfvitus would like to meet with you concerning it once a week."

At this, every bit of color drained from João, including his hair and his eyes, leaving him standing there looking like an ancient greek statue. Dilma moved quickly to comfort him, letting him lean on her so that he would not tip over in shock.

"Thank you, sir, we appreciate that." Rahab answered quickly, shooting a scathing look at Seth who stood with mouth open and flaming red hair obviously poised to make some rash remark.

"Of course." Neville replied uneasily. "Now I will give your schedules and let you be on your way to class. Third year Gryffindors and Slytherins will have Transfiguration with Professor first. First year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws have Herbology with myself. Dom, Fred and James you have Potions with professor Malfoy. Lucy you have divination and Roxanne charms. Now off you go. Dilma and Rahab you have D.A.D.A." As he said this he gave each person a copy of their schedules for the rest of their classes.


	6. Schooled!

The third year group slipped into the Transfiguration classroom just as Hermione finished her introduction to the class. " I see you all have finished your talk with professor Longbottom." She said attempting to balance a mountain of paper in her small arms. "As I have already explained to the rest of the class there will be assigned seats for the first few weeks of term so that I can learn everyone's names and get acclimated with teaching before you throw too many variables into the mix." At this Albus threw his cousin a dirty look and earned himself a raised eyebrow. "So your seats shall be as follows. Lorcan and Alistair," as Hermione said this motioning to the table at which she wished them to sit. "Scorpius and Alice, Lysander and Albus, Seth and Rose, Scott and João."

After this last assignment she walked back up to the front of the class and began her lecture. "Okay class, as I was saying, this year we shall begin preparation for your O.W.L.s which, as you know, will be very important in determining the classes you will be able to take next term and your future in general. Wait wrong class." She stopped obviously embarrassed by the error. "Well, since I know that your previous teacher has instilled in you a more than adequate knowledge base, I believe that we can still start with the study of a very advanced piece of transfiguration to whet your appetites." Here she paused for emphasis. "Who knows what an animagus is?"

Three hands went up, two so fast that they collided with each other. Rose fixed Seth with a death glare that could only have come from a Weasley woman, obviously more than a little put out that someone else would dare challenge her seat as reigning Answer Machine. He simply gave her a sheepish grin and looked over at his brother who was sitting, hand raised with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and a smile that was anything but sheepish.

"Yes, Seth, would you like to explain to the class." Hermione said nodding towards him.

"With all due respect, Ma'am, I believe it would be easier if someone were to show them." He answered meekly.

"Hmm, I think you are correct." With this she launched herself backwards over her desk. As she flipped her body shrank, grew a coat of slick fur, and sprouted a tail. When she had landed she had completely transformed into a sleek river otter. Just as quickly she lept from the desk landing once again human in front of the class. "That, class, is what an animagus is, a wizard that can change into a single animal at will. This takes quite a lot of dedicated study and normally requires over a year to successfully complete, so we will not attempt to complete the process in class. However, I plan on holding an after-hours class for those third years and above who wish to begin the required advanced studies."

Rose's hand shot up as soon as her mother stopped speaking "Yes, ?" Hermione said acknowledging her daughter.

"Um, Professor, exactly how long does it normally take to achieve full transformation?" Rose asked.

"I believe the average time is around a year and a half. However, the record for the fastest time that I know of is ten months and two days." Hermione replied "Yes ?"

"Sorry to contradict you Professor but, that record stands for British wizards, not the world." João said impishly.

"Really…" She said cautiously.

"Yes, _your_ , record stands in Britain but it has been beaten."

"Really, where and by whom?"

"João! Para de Falar!" [Stop talking/Shut up!] Seth cut in swiping his hand across his throat in an effort to shut his brother up but, Joao clearly wasn't about to stop when he was on such a roll.

"Brazil. By my brother and my sister, Rahab. They completed their first full transformation in ten months flat."

"Oh, really?" Hermione said with an incredulous look.

"Yes, they have achieved fastest known transformation at the Nossa Senhora do Mistério school in Brazil." João answered unflinchingly.

"You expect me to believe that a pair of third years mastered one of the most advan..." she was cut off by a shrill cry. She turned quickly in the direction of the sound, starting at the sight of a large barn owl standing on Seth's chair. After allowing her to splutter for a few moments the owl shifted back into Seth who wore something between a sly grin and a chagrined grimace on his face.

"Sorry, professor." he said "I didn't want to show off but, if I didn't do something, my brother would have escalated the conversation past the limits of polite conversation."

"I understand completely." Hermione reassured him. "Being a part of the Weasley family, I have discovered that preemptive strikes are often the best way to avoid full on fits of drama."

"Very true." Rose and Seth answered simultaneously. Earning Seth glares from both Rose and Scorpius.

Hermione attempted to shrug off the obvious tension between her students. "I would; however, like to know how you came to be able to do such an incredible piece of magic before your third year."

"Well, in Brazil, our school sits at the heart of the amazon and sprawls over nearly thirty square kilometers. So we begin animagus training during our first year of school in order allow easier and more speedily movement around the grounds in following years when courses become more spread out." Seth said matter of factly. "Also, most wizarding families live in remote areas and so even the majority of children who don't attend Nossa Senhora complete animagus studies by their third year of concentrated wizarding studies."

"While that seems quite logical, I find it hard to believe that such a large population of animagi would go unnoticed by the International Wizengamot." Hermione commented stiffly.

"The Brazilian ministry is fairly lax in most areas, with the main exception being the recording of the animagus form of any witch or wizard. Should anyone be caught with a list of anyone but his or her own family members forms they would be severely punished." João answered darkly, implying that he had some firsthand knowledge of what severe punishment was. "Our government also has an agreement with the International Wizengamot that prevents them from revealing that so many animagi live in Brazil to the general wizarding population."

"Well be that as it may, I feel that should their methods for teaching such a difficult discipline be revealed and applied it could benefit the world immensely." Hermione tried gently.

"We're terribly sorry Ma'am but, as a condition of our emigration we were forbidden from attempting to replicate the program we use on pain of removal of our citizenship." Seth replied.

Before Hermione had a chance to respond to this, the bell struck signaling time to move to the next class. "Oh, well then class, please read pages two-hundred and fifty to two fifty-five for next class and we will begin discussion then." She said hurriedly as the students gathered their things to leave.

As they filed out of class the Gryffindors and Slytherins split heading to their respective classrooms. Seth and João stuck close to Albus and Rose in an attempt to dodge questions and pleas for a quick transformation from the rest of the children.

"Hey! Rose, what class do you have next?" Albus called as they split.

"Defense, then Muggle Studies while the rest of Gryffindor goes up to Divination. You?" Rose answered.

"Charms, then Herbology. Meet you guys at lunch." Albus shouted back.

"Same as her!" Seth flung over his shoulder cutting João off, before he had eve.

"How did you know what he was going ask that?" Rose asked puzzled.

"Twin Telepathy." he answered smugly, eliciting laughter from the Longbottoms and Scarmanders and a shove into the wall from Rosel.


	7. A Potion Worthy Pair

After a less than productive defence class with "The Boy Who Lived", or "The Uncle Who Never Shuts Up" as Rose had dubbed him about midway through their lesson, Rose and Seth split from the rest of their house down towards muggle studies instead of up to divination.

"Can you believe them?!" Seth exclaimed, in total exasperation, as the two turned down the corridor to the grand staircase. "Those idiots wouldn't stop with questions we all knew the answers to."

"Yeah, welcome to my world." Rose answered wryly "At least Uncle Harry is a little better than my Dad. Mum wouldn't let him take us anywhere because he always let Hugo run off while he was telling some war story or other."

"He let Hugo get away from him? More than once and your Mom didn't kill him?" Seth spluttered. "That kid has already gotten fifty points taken from Ravenclaw! That makes them negative!"

Rose's younger brother had, somehow, managed to slip a time release potion into the Gryffindor common room during breakfast. It had gone off while Neville had been talking to them, and stuck most of the older students fast to the floor. Apparently, it had been meant for his family, who were normally the first back up to the tower. It was a neat piece of work and he probably would have gotten away with it but, he hadn't counted on his mother. Had she not been at the school, the other teachers would never have thought to pin the prank on a first year. She on the other hand, recognized one of her youngest's experiments and he'd managed to lose points for his house, before they'd managed to win any.

"Yeah, he gives Fred and Roxie a run for their money." Rose smirked jumping onto the landing behind Seth just as it started to move. Seth shook his head at the eccentricities of the castle.

"How did he manage to get that potion into our common room?" Seth puzzled. "I thought he said your parents wouldn't buy him an owl until he was in third year."

"He, somehow, convinced dad to fix the R/C helicopter Grandpa Granger gave him for his birthday to work in the castle. I bet they both get howlers tomorrow morning." Rose said, looking pleased with herself. Though, Seth got the feeling that she said it from personal experience.

"That reminds me, why on earth would you take muggle studies? Your grandparents are muggles for God's sake. It's not like you need the help."

"Which just means that I can ace one more class." Rose snarked. "Well, that and, the fact that I can use the only working TV in the entire castle to keep up on Doctor Who and call it 'Cultural Research'."

They stepped off the final landing into the passage leading to their classroom. As they walked down the hallway, a fit of giggles went up behind them. Rose stiffened immediately, knowing exactly what was coming. Seth, on the other hand, spun around trying to spot the origin of the sound in the empty hall.

"On the wall." Rose sighed, closing her eyes in an attempt to shut out the oncoming storm. Seth followed her outstretched finger to the portrait of two young Victorian witches who were hunched conspiratorially behind their parasols. Slowly the pair peeked out from their pastel shields, wicked grins spreading across their faces and malicious glee. He shook his head again, the portraits at his old school would never have been so rude.

"Oh, Tildie, it's the Weasley girl!" The one on the right tittered, obviously quite used to the routine.

"Oh yes, Broonie, and she's with a boy!" Tildie responded impishly. "I wonder what charm she's used on him."

"Oh, Tilde, stop it! You are so mean!" Broonie shrieked, obviously wanting her do no such thing.

"Well, I suppose she could have swayed him with her looks and wonderful." Tilde drawled, "Oh, that's right. I was wrong dear, I'm sorry." At this proclamation both children, who had been turning gradually redder one with embarrassment and the other with anger, looked up in surprise. "She must have used a potion on you, boy." Tilde added flippantly. "I mean, I can barely stand to look at that horrible hair and all those freckles, so how could you."

When he heard this, Seth's hair stood out straight from his head in bright, fiery spikes. However, it quickly returned to its normal swooping style though, his locks were a light platinum rather than their usual golden color. "No potions for me ladies. But, I do have one for her, you'll just love it." His blue eyes sparked with bursts of mischievous, emerald green and, for just a second, their pupils seemed to narrow into slits.

"Really?" both portrait witches asked coyly.

"Really?!" Rose said, shooting him a look that made all the other glares she had given him up till then seem like tender glances.

"Yes, Really." He answered coolly, pulling out a vial of pale green liquid. "It's just beautiful, you see, we all know about the potion that animates portraits. But, this potion takes that to the next level, it allows the occupants to become real. All you have to do is pour it on an animated portrait."

"Oh! How wonderful!" both portrait girls shrieked.

"Yeah, wonderful." Rose muttered icily.

"Yep, it's just…" Seth started.

"What." Rose seethed through clenched teeth.

"Well, I mean you would have to live with consequences."

"What consequences?"

At this question, the impish light in his eyes grew so that he looked positively snakish. "Oh, you know. Anything the potion is used on bursts into flames after an hour."

"Really?!" All three girls exclaimed at once. Though Rose sounded a little more intrigued by the idea than the two Victorian witches who sounded downright horrified.

"Yep" Seth answered, putting the vial into Rose's outstretched, hand.

"Oh, Rosie." Tilde pleaded. "You know we were only playing; you are really quite beautiful, you know."

"Yes, yes." Broonie echoed. "Just please don't use that horrid potion on us, please!"

"I don't know…" Rose said toying with stopper.

"We promise we'll never, ever say anything mean about you ever again." Broonie promised.

"Yes, never again. Oh and maybe we could start complimenting you every time you walk by.' Tilde added. "Oh, I know! We'll…"

"Stop!" Rose shouted "I would love nothing more to use this potion to make sure you two shut up once and for all but, that's not wouldn't be right. Much as it pains me to say, you have nothing to fear from me." As she finished, she turned and walked away, handing the vial back to Seth as she went. He turned to follow as the girls in the portrait sent up a cloud of apologies.

"Thank you." Rose said, shyly. "That was really nice."

"It was nothing." Seth answered with a shrug. "Those two were annoying."

"I have to know." Rose said, narrowing her eyes. "Would it have actually set them on fire?"

"This?" Seth asked pulling the vial out before yanking off the cork and chugging its contents. "It was just lime soda. I carry it around to bluff my way out of situations like that. So it's good that you can be counted on to do the right thing or we'd both look pretty stupid right now."

"I suppose we would." Rose said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Are sure you're not in Slytherin because, that was pretty sly."

"Well, I could always be João in disguise and you'd never know." he replied with a grin. Which earned him another shove into the wall.


	8. Quizzes and Clashes

"So, how has everybody's first day of classes gone so far?" Abus asked as he, João and Scorpius slid in beside their friends at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"Fine, Al." Rose muttered before returning to the essay she was writing.

"The first day of school and already you're doing homework at the table Rosie!" Albus exclaimed incredulously which only elicited a grunt from his cousin.

"Professor Lovegood already set us an eight-inch essay on the effect of TV on modern muggle youth. Rose is freaking out a little." Seth said by way of explanation. "I'm betting we turn it in and she has us rewrite it on muggle paper, so I'm starting there. As soon as my owl gets back, that is."

"Well, good to know Rose will have someone to challenge her title of Royal Overachiever this year." Al replied sarcastically.

"Have you guys signed up for Quidditch tryouts yet?" Scorpius asked, hoping to rouse Rose with mention of her favorite, non-scholarly, activity. Which left him sorely disappointed as she just kept scribbling, not even deigning to grunt in answer.

"Yeah, we all signed up." Scott Wood answered for the group. "But, with the number of Weasley's trying out we don't stand a chance."

"Come on, Scott, James isn't going to just hand his cousins spots on the team." Alice protested.

"No, and he won't have to." Scott replied. "Have you seen them play? He won't have any choice but, to put them on the team."

"I don't know Scott." Albus interjected. "James told me he had his eye on you for Keeper cause he didn't think he could deal with Rose any more than he has to." This statement managed to shock Rose out of her study coma.

"Albus Severus Potter." She seethed in a fairly good impression of her aunt's indignant tone. "You know very well that James and I get on fine. And if he ever put anyone on our team for any reason besides his, or her, own talent your parents would ground him for so long our grandchildren would meet him for the first time when it was over."

"Whatever you say, Rosie" Al replied smugly, pretending to know something she did not.

"Shut up, Al." Rose shot back.

"Nice comeback., Rosie." Al snarked.

"While watching a full blown Weasley meltdown would be awesome," Scorpius interrupted. "I'd rather not be late for my first lesson with my father, and if we don't leave now we will be."

"Fine, ya spoilsport." Albus said, jokingly, as the group unfurled themselves from the benches and gathered their things to head down to the dungeons

"Welcome class," Draco addressed the class. "As I'm sure you all know, I am Professor Malfoy and I will be instructing you in the art and science of potion making this term. I have had potions masters that were strict to the point of abuse and lax almost to the point of recklessness. I hope that you will find me to be somewhere in between. Now, that being said, I must tell you that I have found a distinct deficit between what students here ought to know and what they do. So, I will need you to take a short quiz in order to determine your aptitude or, lack thereof." As he said this, he flicked his wand and sent a stack of parchment flying off his desk and on to the worktables in front of his students.

After everyone had finished with their quizzes, not without much grumbling, Draco collected the papers and once again flicked his wand over the stack and the papers instantly graded and sorted themselves.

"I will be sorting you into pairs based on the scores you have received on these assessments. Each pair will be partnered with another at each table. Each group will have a mix of high and low scorers so that no one will be too lost or held back too badly." This statement elicited more moans and eyerolls from the class. At this Draco's face twisted into a wolfish smirk, which caused Scorpius and Albus both to audibly suck in a gasp. "Oh, did I forget to mention, each pair will be made up of one Gryffindor and Slytherin. Just so no one can say I favor my own house in grading." With this, he flicked his wand once again and the test parchments flew out onto the desks once again. "Please find your name and use the remaining class time to sort out who will gather which ingredients for the confusing concoction you will be brewing next class."

Seth unfolded from his seat in the back of the room and slowly walked forward scanning each piece of parchment with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that only grew with each one that didn't bear his name. Finally, at the very front, left desk, sat his name right next to Scorpius Malfoy and had to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep from letting out a groan at the next name over, João Cruzeiro.

João slid into his seat on the other side of Scorpius, looking as if he had just pulled off the greatest con in the history of con artistry, which he probably had. Seth's disapproving glare was broken by Alastair stumbling into his seat next to João.

He turned his attention towards Scorpius who, as it turned out, was giving him pretty much the same look he had just been giving João.

"What?" He asked, more than a little irritated at the Slytherin's cold demeanor. He was quite close to being done with the Slytherin's stone headed attitude.

"How could _you_ have possibly made a better score than Rose?" Scorpius answered, sounding equally perturbed. He threw a quick look over his shoulder at where Rose sat beside Albus just across the aisle.

"Well, maybe, we got the same score and were just sat in alphabetical order. Or..." he said raising a single finger as if he had just had an epiphany. "Maybe, your father and I have some sort of plan to ensure that you never get together. We're such good friends and all. That must be it!"

"Shut up." Scorpius shot back. "Let's just figure out who's going to get what for the potion."

"So you do or don't want me to talk?" Seth asked in mock confusion leaning back in his chair.

"I want you to stop being such an insufferable prat." Scorpius snapped.

"Fine, you take the top half and I'll take the bottom. That sound fair enough?" Seth returned scratching a line across the parchment with his quill.

"Whatever." Scorpius said as the bell rung and Seth gathered his things as quickly as possible, to avoid any further comment.

"That went well." Alistair laughed as he fell in beside Seth.

"You could have said something, you know." Seth said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, 'cause I want Scorp mad at me too." Alistair answered as if the idea was completely mental. Which, based on the work on the glares that he had been shooting earlier, it probably was.

"Coward." Seth said elbowing the smaller boy in the ribs and easily dancing outreach before the answering shove could connect. He was quietly glad Alistair was slower than Rose because, his shoulder was already bruising and he had no wish to add to his collection.


	9. Tryouts

"You ready for this?" Rose asked, cocking her eyebrow as she tightened the last of the straps on her keeper's gear.

"Guess so." Seth answered, looking up from the boot he was tying on the bench across from her. They sat in the Gryffindor locker room getting ready for Quidditch tryouts to start. "You would think that with the number of times I've gone through tryouts it would get easier."

"Nothing wrong with a little dose of anxiety, even if other Gryffindors don't know it." Rose quipped, leaning closer conspiratorially, as if she shared some great secret.

Seth just answered with a wry smile as he stooped down to finish tying his boot. They both did a quick final check of their gear before grabbing their brooms and joining the rest of the Gryffindor hopefuls on the pitch.

Once everyone had gathered, James mounted his broom to get a better view of the group. "Ok, everyone" he shouted to be heard over the rustling and murmuring. "Here's how this is going to go. First we'll fill remaining beater slot, then we move on to the chasers, then keeper and then finally seeker. Understood?" Everyone mumbled their consent. "Good, if you aren't trying for beater you can wait in the stands.

After everyone had cleared the pitch, James had the beaters start off with a few simple hitting drills. Each time someone missed they were eliminated, once the pool had been reduced to seven James split the group into pairs with Fred as his partner.

"What are they gonna do, try to knock each other off?" Seth asked, leaning over to where Rose and been sitting and found Dom instead.

"Just watch, this was Rose's idea." Dom answered coolly. Just as she said this, Rose and three seventh years walked out onto the pitch with what seemed to be clay balls of various colors. They cast a quick spell and the balls began to fly around in a crazy dance directed by the four. It quickly became apparent that the balls represented teammates for each pair and they were trying to smash other colors while protecting their own, just as they would in a real match.

Fred and James seemed to be everywhere at once, smashing the other groups with no apparent exertion. In less time than it took the others to connect with their first bludger, the two had smashed the rest of the spheres.

"Cool, huh?" Dom asked with a smirk. "Come on we're up next." With that she slunk down the stands to the rail and in one smooth move took a flying leap over the rail. Seth followed her a little less enthusiastically, preferring not to risk broken bones before he actually got on the pitch.

"Ok, guys so this is what's going to happen." James shouted motioning for the prospective chasers to form two lines. "First part is the same as the beaters, you will do a few drills. Then once we get down to six the second part starts. For that, you will split into two teams one trying to get the quaffle to me and the other to Fred."

The first stage went fairly quickly with most of the prospective chasers dropping out in the first few passes. Soon, only Seth, Dom, Roxanne, Chryssie Chang, Neil Wood, and Arie Johnson were left.

"So, group one, Dom, Roxie and Chryssie." James barked. "Group two, Seth, Neil, and Arie."

While Seth and his group were still getting into position, Dom snatched the quaffle from James and was halfway to Fred. Seth flipped around on his broom, lying flat across it straining to reach her but, she was too far ahead and made it to Fred before he had a chance to catch her.

"Too slow, superstar." Dom smirked as she flew past.

Seth shot his hand out sweeping the quaffle from her grasp and gave her a condescending look as he twisted around shot straight up to where James had repositioned himself. As soon as he had dropped the quaffle with James, Dom had it again. Seth gave pursuit almost instantly but, Roxanne and Chryssie blocked him. The drill went back and forth like this for several minutes until James called a halt.

"Ok, Dom, Seth, Roxie you guys have the spots." he announced. "Keepers let's go."

"Um, James." Scott spoke up. "It just me and Rose."

"Really?"

"Yep, and I am not about to humiliate myself by going up against her, again. So..."

"Fine." James sighed. "I guess you can be Keeper, Rosie."

"Gee, thanks James." Rose replied.


	10. Vendettas

"Careful, he might burst into flames." Rose said, nudging Seth's shoulder, her voice joking. Not that he noticed. "His dad wouldn't like hearing about that." He just transferred the glare he had focused on Scorpius, who was walking down the hill in front of them, to her.

"He did it on purpose, you know." Seth grumped rubbing the back of his head where his hair was still matted with blood.

"I'm sure it was an accident." Rose answered rolling her eyes. "Besides, my dad fixed you up quick enough."

"Sure, whatever."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rose snapped, sounding for all the world like her mother.

"He's spent a month at the top of the class in Charms and, suddenly, he can't perform a simple levitation." Seth spit back. "Likely."

"Everyone has a bad day." Rose tried.

"Yeah, but, it isn't like this is the first thing he's done." Seth answered. "He nearly blew my head off in potions the other day."

"It was a mix up."

"Really? The potion master's son, mixed up crushed gillyweed and powdered dragon claw." Seth shot back skeptically his hair, which had been tinged with orange, was now fully ablaze in shades of bright red.

"Come off it!" Rose ordered, her voice squeaking with anger, which, combined with the fact that she was several inches shorter than he, undermined attempt at an intimidating look. "It's not like you don't take much harder hits from Fred and James in practice."

"Bludgers don't exactly have corners, Rosie." With that he lengthened his stride, easily out-distancing her to join the rest of the Gryffindor boys at the paddock fence next to Hagrid's hut.

Rose slipped in beside Alice and the other girls, just as Charlie finished his introduction and stepped to the center of the paddock. She did her best to not to make eye contact with her uncle, Seth, or Scorpius.

"Thanks for joining us Rose." Charlie said with smirk at his niece. "How about you and be the first ones to show us just how we ought to approach a hippogriff?"

Seth swung his legs over the rail with the studied ease of practice and walked towards the nearest hippogriff, beginning the complicated ritual with the same air of familiarity. Once his had offered him its knee, he threw a self-satisfied grin over his shoulder at Rose who was only in the middle of her own jerky routine.

"Well, since you have time to see how others are doing," Charlie teased. "why don't you show us how to properly mount and ride that hippogriff you have, so expertly, established a bond with."

"Of course, professor." Seth replied in the same conspiratorial tone.

With another look over his shoulder at Rose, he swung his leg lightly over the hippogriff's neck. In one smooth motion it launched the two of them into the air and flew in lazy circles over the head of the students gathered around the paddock. As they approached the clump of slytherin boys, Seth worked his fingers into the feathers under its ear. With more speed than a shifting wind the hippogriff's eyes clouded over and it's wings snapped close and it dove straight towards Scorpius. Just before it bowled into Scorpius, Seth pulled his fingers from its feathers throwing his hands up in a gesture of helplessness and it pulled up at the second clipping Scorpius' shoulders

"Seth!" Charlie shouted, his face twisted in such uncharacteristic anger that Rose saw Albus' jaw actually drop ."Come down from there now!"

"Trying!" The worry in his expression and voice falling just short of convincing from where Rose stood. Her uncle, on the other hand, seemed inclined to believe the display as his face softened, he strode over to a bucket, on the paddock's edge, and pulled out a dead ferret waving it in the air. The second the hippogriff scented the carcass it dove straight down, landing in front of Charlie and snatching the treat. Seth slid off its back and took a few long strides to the fence, grabbing Rose's arm along the way and pulling her over with him.

"I suppose I should have told you Feathermane has a thing about people messing with his head feathers." Charlie said through his grimace as he hopped the fence to join the class. "I think we ought to call the rest of today's lesson off. Come on Scorpius will get you to Madam Wood and let her take a look at your shoulder."

As the two made their way up the hill towards the castle, the Slytherins filed past, most of them wore the same look Rose wanted to give Seth.

"We better be ready for some serious payback." Alistair warned. "The match next week just got about ten times nastier."

"Yeah, sorry about that guys." Seth replied, abashedly.

"Well, maybe, you will think about that next time you decide to act like a complete prat because you think someone is being mean to you." Rose snapped and stomped off up the hill leaving a stunned Seth and the rest of the Gryffindors standing at the bottom.

"Hey Rosie." Scorpius said, smiling, as she slipped into the infirmary.

"Hey, Scorp." she replied, choosing to ignore the use of her nickname. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Madam Wood says the hoof put a slight crack in my collarbone." he answered. Before she could protest, he added. "She already fixed me up but, she said I should rest for a few hours to make sure it takes."

"I'm sorry you got hurt." Rose apologized. "Seth can, apparently, be pretty vindictive and has a good measure of typical Gryffindor brashness."

"He also comes with all the chivalry your house is known for. He's already been by to apologize Rose." Scorpius cut in. "Though I wish he hadn't, it would make it a lot easier to go on hating him."

"Oh, well…" Rose stammered. "That doesn't change the fact that he acted like total baby."

"Rose…" Scorpius started.

"Rose." Charlie broke in from behind her. "We need to talk." He motioned for her to follow him outside and she did so grudgingly.

"Look, Kiddo." Charlie started. "I think you need to lighten up on Seth."

"You think I should just forgive him for being petty?" Rose spluttered. "He could have really hurt Scorpius or anyone standing in that group for that matter! And all because he thinks Scorp has some sort of vendetta against him." At this her uncle raised his eyebrows like he didn't think that was too crazy of an idea.

"Maybe…" Charlie replied calmly. "Or maybe he was just trying to mess with Scorpius and Feathermane didn't take kindly to the way Seth chose to go about it."

"Yeah, right." Rose muttered. "His family owns one of the biggest breeding and supply operations for magical creatures in the world, he's been playing with hippogriffs since he could walk."

"Yes and what he did with Feathermane would have told any other hippogriff to just get close enough to be startling. But, Feathermane is tempermental about anyone, touching his head." Charlie explained, his voice hardening in response to her stubbornness. "As I said, part of the blame rests on me, I ought to have informed Seth that Feathermane was like that. I knew he would do some things that most of you don't even know are possible but, I wanted him to learn a little lesson in humility."

"Oh." was all Rose could manage.

"If it makes you feel any better I took five points from Gryffindor for his rash behavior."

"Yeah...That makes me feel so much better Uncle Charlie." She sighed. "I going to go now, if that's okay." Without waiting for an answer she turned and slunk away down the corridor to anywhere but, there.


	11. Not Our Secret

"O Doninha vai te mata!1" Rahab's strident voice carried down the steps of the Owlery stopping rose in her tracks.

"He is not going to kill me…" Rose could practically hear Seth rolling his eyes. "Ele não ta com raiva tambem não.2"

"Bem, porque eu tou!3" Rahab shot back.

"Why are you mad?" Dilma's soft tone contrasted starkly with her siblings' sharp voices.

"Because, our brother is a complete bonehead." Rahab turned on her sister.

"For the millionth time." Seth said slowly, his voice growing in volume as he spoke. "Foi acidente!4"

"Whatever! " João cut in "Esse não vai resolver nada5. 'Sides we have other problems"

"Like what? " Rahab huffed.

"Como vamos prevenir alguem descobrindo meu problema por exemplo. " João answered gravely "É quasi cheia."6

"And, you will be just fine." Seth attempted to assuage his brother's fear. "Madam Wood has been working on the potion all term, nothing will happen."

"Não é o mesmo.7"

"No, it's not." Dilma replied. "Mais vai funcionar.8"

"It had better." Rose could picture João pouting. "I can't afford an incident!"

"And you won't have one." Rahab assured. "O Doninha prometeu.9"

"Yeah, and he doesn't break his promises." Seth interjected. "Plus, we have the back-up, we'll be safe there."

"Bem.10" João conceded.

"That's not our only problem." Dilma added, her voice carrying a sharp edge Rose had never heard her use before.

"E que é?11" Seth and João asked as one.

"The cousin, génios.12" Rahab spit out caustically.

"Oh, Boy! You in trouble now." João laughed.

"Stuff it, Jo." Dilma snapped.

"O que foi que eu fiz?13" João sounded bewildered at his sister's uncharacteristic vitriol. "Seth was the idiot that started this."

"It's what you didn't do." Dilma answered. "You could have at least tried to help him."

"Lay off of him." Seth broke in. Rose could hear his shoes scrape the stone of the tower floor as he got up from wherever he had been sitting. "The whole thing's my fault."

"It was an accident." Dilma conceded, though she didn't sound overly sympathetic. "But, you ought to have known that using a Hippogriff was a bad idea. What with family history and all."

Rose gasped in surprise, forgetting where she was. As soon as the sound left her mouth she clamped her hands over her mouth in a vain attempt to stop the sound from reaching the group above her.

"What was that?" Rahab cried out.

"We better check." Seth answered. The sound of shoes on stone sounded as the siblings moved towards the stairs.

Rose instinctively turned to flee and caught her foot on the edge of the step. She stumbled right into somebody, Albus. She felt him catch her. Then a gauzy material floated over her. Just as the material settled, Seth and Rahab stepped into view.

"Nobody here." Rahab phrased the statement more like a question.

"Yeah, guess so…" Seth answered suspiciously, looking right at the spot where Rose and Albus sat. "We better get going, though. We don't want anyone to overhear."

"Definitely." João agreed.

"What do you think you're doing, Rose?" Albus hissed as soon as the Cruzeiros footsteps faded.

"Nothing." Rose answered and was met with a skeptical look from her cousin. "Ok, I was coming up here to be alone, and I heard the Cruzeiros talking."

"And instead of turning around, you just had to indulge your curiosity." Albus teased.

"Now, hold up." Rose interrupted. "What were you doing up here, with the cloak of invisibility, no less."

"I was coming up here to owl my parents," Albus defended. "And I saw my cousin coming down the stairs, like she was fleeing a crime scene. So, I figured, using the cloak, that I always have with me, would be a good idea."

"Oh." Was all Rose could manage.

"So, what did my nosey little cousin find out that has her so spooked?"

"First, I'm two months older than you." Rose countered. "Second, I wasn't spooked by what I found out. I was spooked by the fact that I let the people I was eavesdropping on know that I was listening."

"Ok, then what caused you to reveal yourself?" Albus taunted. "Oh, Great Mistress of Espionage."

"Prat." Rose retorted.

"Fine, what did you find out." Albus repeated with more sincerity.

"Like I'm going to tell you." Rose replied incredulously." You are the worst secret keeper in the world!"

"Come on now, I'm not that bad!" Albus whined. "Plus, I did just save your bum."

"Fine." Rose sighed. "I found out, that your new best friend is your old best friend's cousin."

"Huh?"

"You are truly dense sometimes!" Rose let out in exasperation. "The Cruzeiros are Scorpius' cousins."

"Not possible." Albus answered matter-of-factly, obviously smug that he knew something she didn't. "Mr. Malfoy is an only child."

"One, Scorpius has two parents." Rose retorted. "Two, the could be second cousins or something. They're still his family."

"You sure about this?" Albus didn't sound too certain and looked even less so.

"I heard them, Al!" Rose cried losing patience with her cousin's lack of mental alacrity.

"Okay!" Albus shouted back. "Then let's go tell Scorp."

"We can't." Rose said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not our secret to tell."

"Fine, I'll get João to tell him."

"Al! They've obviously kept it a secret for some reason."

"Like what?" Albus asked scratching his head.

"I don't know." Rose admitted. "But, we can't let them know that we know anyway. Then they'll want to know how we found out."

"Fine." Albus conceded rolling his eyes. "Let me know when you've made up your mind on what we're going to do."

With that he started down the stairs before turning back with his head held high. "I still need to send this letter."

Rose barely held back her laughter as she left Albus at the top of the stairs.

1-The Doninha is going to kill you!

2-He's not even mad.

3-Good, cause I am.

4-It was an accident!

5-This isn't going to solve anything.

6-" Like how we are going to prevent anybody from finding out about my problem, for example." João answered gravely. "The moon is nearly full."

7-It's not the same.

8-But, it will work.

9-The Doninha promised.

10-Fine.

11-And what is it?

12- Geniuses.

13-What did I do?


	12. What Goes Unsaid

João and Albus slid in next to Scorpius, hoping not to catch Hermione's attention. Not that either of them had a chance. They weren't very sneaky for Slytherins. Not in a physical since anyway.

"And where have you two been?" Hermione demanded and Scorpius ducked his head, instinctively separating himself from the objects of her wrath.

"We may have, possibly, been in the headmaster's office." Albus admitted sheepishly, though not before he fixed his best mate with a glare.

"And…"

"And, then he sent us here." João responded cheekily, he may not have been sneaky but, he certainly.

"I assume you have a note of some kind?" Hermione more stated than asked and immediately received one. "I would also ask that you refrain from getting into any mischief before my class, from now on. Or, at least, that you not get caught."

"Yes Ma'am." Both replied, sinking lower in their chairs, doing their best to pretend that they did not notice the amused looks and barely contained laughter of their classmates.

"Now, I believe that we were about to start practicing the Lapifors spell." She started receiving a chorus of moans from her students. Which quickly melted back into snickers as she finished "And since you seem to think it so easy, that you don't need my lesson. The two of you may write me a ten-inch essay on how you would venture to teach this spell."

João grunted and slid further down his seat. He half-heartedly swiped at the clock on his desk. The resulting rabbit was left with needles for whiskers and what looked more like the end of a pendulum than a rabbit's tail.

Rose, Seth, and Scorpius performed the spell in perfect unison and three flawless rabbits leaped onto the floor. Scorpius shot Seth an annoyed look. Albus nearly said something to his friend but, he caught Rose's gaze and thought better of it. Two days had passed since their discovery and he had barely kept his mouth shut. Only Rose's threats had shored up his resolve; she was right, he was rubbish with secrets.

Seth and Scorpius spent the entirety of the lesson trading perfect spells and even more perfect glares. Albus finally resorted to physically biting his tongue to keep from yelling at the two stop being complete idiots. Albus knew how much Scorpius, an only child, wished to have family members his age and now here he was sitting by while his best friend grew to hate his own cousin.

Albus tasting blood and more than ready when the bell sounded,shot out of his seat, ignoring his housemates offers to join in the final move of the prank war they had been waging against Gryffindor. He practically sprinted to the library, leaving several stunned Slytherins and a very smug red-headed Gryffindor mumbling about his strange behavior.

Rose found him hiding in her favorite corner a few hours later, biding time until he had to be out on the pitch for the Slytherin vs Gryffindor Quidditch match.

"You okay, Al?" she asked knowingly. "It's not like you to miss out on good prank."

"Shut up." was all Albus could manage in the face of his cousin's self-assuredness.

"Come on," Rose coaxed suddenly tender. "You can't stay mad when there's Quidditch to play."

"Wanna bet?" Albus challenged.

"Al, if you don't cheer up Scorp is going to notice. Then he'll ask you about it and…" Rose reasoned.

"I will fold like the total pansy that I am and then the Cruzeiros will know about your little adventure in the tower." Albus seethed against his cousin's overbearing nature.

"It's not like that! I… I wouldn't… I'm not…" Rose spluttered clearly taken aback, and ashamed, by his assessment of her. "Look, this secret is clearly eating you up. So, once the match is over, you can tell it however you see fit."

"Okay." Albus agreed his voice full of fake suspicion. "This isn't just some sneaky plan to make sure I'm off my game and you Gryffindors win, is it?"

"No, Al, it's not." Rose answered firmly. "It's a chivalrous concession; Ambitious deceptions are your department." This managed to pry a wry smile to Albus' lips.

"Good." he replied his eyes dancing with their normal light. "Cause if it is, I swear the pranks we've been pulling on you for the past couple of weeks will be nothing compared to you'll be in for."

Rose didn't seem terribly frightened by his threat. Albus decided to chalk that up to years living with Hugo. However, he had hoped to get more of a reaction than a cocked eyebrow and a smirk.

"Fine, Al." Rose sighed over her shoulder as she turned. "But, just think about how you're going to do it. I would confront the Cruzeiros all together before telling Scorpius. Now we better get to the pitch.

She didn't leave any room for argument, not that he was dumb enough to try. Growing up with her he knew when she was done talking. He only pushed his luck once and still had the scar.

As it turned out, Albus needn't have worried about Rose trying to mess with his head, her team didn't need any extra help to beat his. The Gryffindor team had flown onto the pitch eyes blazing, hair deep emerald green and skin covered in streaks of glittering sliver paint. Apparently, the final prank had been to set a powerful color-change curse on the team's uniforms and, minus Rose and Seth who had both been late and thus known to disarm the spell, they had all fallen for it. Albus had never seen such murder in his cousins' eyes.

He was sure glad he had been with Rose when it was set up. Though, it didn't seem to matter. On several occasions, the Gryffindor chasers purposely flew close enough to him that bludger shots from Rory and Bellodona Wates, his own beaters, hit him when they were dodged at the last second. His only consolation was that the Slytherin chasers took the worst of the punishment. Fred and James didn't miss a single shot and their teammates made sure to take an inordinately long amount of time to reach the goal hoops so they had plenty of opportunities.

Albus had to admit that the revenge plan was amazingly sophisticated, then again Rose had probably started formulating it as soon as she had seen her teammates. He was almost glad when Lily "accidently" kicked him in her dive for the snitch and snagged it with no problem. Both teams had seemed on the verge of abandoning all semblance of playing and just allowing themselves to dissolve into a full on fist fight.

As soon as they touched down, he made to talk with João and Seth. But, Seth was carried away, along with the entire Gryffindor team, in sea of Red and Gold and João stalked off without even bothering to stop in the locker room.

"What's with him?" Albus mused, not realizing Scorpius was beside him.

"Probably just mad at his prat of a brother." Scorpius answered making Albus jump.

"Still, he's not usually so petty." Albus countered, wincing at the disdain in his friend's voice. "I bet he has some reason."

"I bet he went to kick Seth's…"

"They're your cousins, Scorp!" Albus blurted out before he could stop himself and fled before his friend could recover and drill him for the origin of this revelation.


	13. Stalkers

Rose and Scorpius met up with the rest of their friends in the Room of Requirement. Neither of the Cruzeiro boys had shown up in their respective common rooms after the match. When Rose had contacted her cousins in Ravenclaw and, through one of Teddy's old friends, a couple of Hufflepuffs, she found that the girls had disappeared right before the end of the match and hadn't been seen since.

"They aren't in the library or down by the lake." Dom reported with both Longbottoms nodding their agreement.

"Mom wouldn't let us into the infirmary." Scott grumbled.

"And we barely managed to check the great hall before Filch chased us out." Hugo added.

Lily, Lysander, and Molly hadn't found them in the Astronomy Tower or, the other six towers. Fred and Lorcan hadn't had any luck on the first or second floors. James, Louis, and Roxanne had barely escaped detection by Hermione after they checked the top three floors. Lucy, who was in contact with friends in all four common rooms, shook her head in response to Rose's silent question. They hadn't returned there either.

"Ok, so…" Rose ran through every location they might have gone and, came up with nothing. "Now what?"

"There's only one place they could be." Albus piped up but, he didn't seem inclined to share.

"And where would that be?" James prompted.

Albus looked around as if hoping that one of his friends would bail him out. They did not, and Rose had to dig her nails into her palms to keep from slapping him.

"Al, this is your fault!" she screamed at him causing him to shrink back into a newly formed niche in the wall. "You had better stop playing games! Or I swear… I swear, I'll, I'll… Do something!

"Something?"

"I will hurt you too, James." Rose snapped, spinning to face her cousin. He made his best show of bravado but, his glance at Albus betrayed his fear of the much shorter girl.

"The Shrieking Shack, Rose." Albus admitted. He licked his lips before continuing. "The only place they could be is the Shrieking Shack. I mean, I looked up some of the Portuguese words they were using and with that potion they were talking about…"

"Albus!" Several voices exclaimed at once.

"You can't be serious." Dom echoed Rose's thoughts, only about a million times louder. "There is no way that any of them could be a Werewolf."

"Dead serious." Albus answered, though the effect was rather ruined by his obvious struggle to keep from laughing at his cousin's slip into a high pitched French accent.

"He's got a point." Scorpius chimed in. "João has a nasty scar on his side that could easily be a werewolf bite."

"And now that you mention it, Seth's got a few, that might well be claw marks, across his shoulders." Dom mused, eliciting small nods from most of her teammates.

"I wouldn't know. I don't make a habit of staring at him when he's got his shirt off." Rose countered, her cheeks heating at the half-truth. She did not stare, she might glance a little too long but, she did not stare. Besides, she had always thought of those scars as something that just came from going to school in the jungle.

"Guys!" Lucy shrieked, her freckles popping out on her suddenly paper white face. "Alexandra set up a monitoring charm on the protections in the forest and…" here she broke off, her breathing heavy.

Molly, who had grown up dealing with her sister's panic attacks, didn't waste time trying to calm Lucy. Instead, she knelt next to her rubbing Molly's back in small circles while speaking to her sister's friend through the glowing orb by her feet.

"Alex, can you repeat that? Whatever it was, it's got Luce in quite a tizzy."

"Yeah, sure." came the shaky reply. "I've had a charm to monitor activity in the Forbidden Forest in place ever since that Aracmantula ordeal Second Year."

"And…" prompted James. Rose slugged him in the arm for that, she had had just about enough of the Potter boys and their attitudes for one night.

"Someone has just tripped the alarms on the perimeter nearly the Shrieking Shack." Alexandra snipped. "Actually, James, quite a few someones."

"Four?" Rose blurted and had to duck to avoid James' blow.

"Hard to tell Rose." Alexandra admitted. "The spell doesn't function well when more than a couple of breaches occur in a small area. However, I'd hazard it's at least that many. Probably more."

"Great. Thanks, Alex." Molly said as she cut contact with the dormitories.

Everyone looked from Molly to Rose hoping one of them might have come up with some sort of plan. The two girls looked at each other and then towards James. James threw his gaze towards Albus who immediately speared Scorpius with a desperate glance.

"Obviously." Scorpius exclaimed throwing up his arms in exasperation. "A room full of Weasleys and I still have to come up with the plan. Gits."

"You know you love it, Scorp." Dom teased from across the room.

"I'm ambitious Dominque, not suicidal."

"Have you got a plan or no?"

"Obviously not." Scorpius snapped his pale cheeks coloring. "Once again, I am not suicidal. I will neither attempt to formulate a plan which might get me killed nor will I risk your wrath should such a plan fail."

James cracked a half smile at Scorp's outburst and Rose herself could not help but chuckle. Scorpius only got this dramatic when he thought someone was acting particularly foolish.

"Scorp…" she warned. She had done this dance with him enough times and had no intention of going through it again.

"Well, you all know what we are going to end up doing." he answered crossing his arms and standing ramrod straight his standard 'I'm not going to budge no matter what you Weasley's say' stance. But, he knew as well as the rest of them that he would give in sooner or later.

"Come off it, Scorp." Albus interceded saving them all the trouble of a long stare off. "Just say it, will you!"

Scorpius managed to hold out under his best-mate's stare for a few seconds but, as he'd done under Rose's own gaze countless times, he buckled. "We have to go in and see for ourselves. Obviously."

"Obviously." James repeated rolling his eyes in his most infuriating manner and Rose took another swing at her cousin. She missed of course but, it sure felt satisfying.

"Luce can't go, I'll stay and look after her." Molly stationed herself behind the still hyperventilating Lucy and defied anyone to argue the point.

"That's fine Mol." Rose answered knowing that her cousin was right. "Hugo, Lilly you stay here and help run interference should any of the professors stick their noses in here."

Seeing the look on the two youngest cousins' faces, several of the older children went for their wands to protect themselves from the expected hexes. Both had inherited their mothers' talent with quite nasty hexes, not that anyone would admit to letting the underage wizard and witch practice. They hardly ever missed the chance to show their prowess but, they both seemed to understand the severity of the situation.

"You can count on us, Ro." Hugo snapped off a smart salute, attempting his old brave soldier routine and Lily nodded agreement her face reddening slightly but, otherwise any emotion well concealed.

"Good, then we're off to track down our new friends." Rose stated with a great deal more confidence than she felt. "Hope, they took a nice, big draught of wolfsbane."

"So that's it, then." Fred piped up cheerily his eyes sparkling. "We've officially become stalkers."


End file.
